Moving Off the Page

Edwards (2010) refers to the creative arts as “the language of the imagination,” which encompasses the media of music, dance, paint, sculpture, storytellers, and poets (p. vii). For young children, the ability to “tap into the imagination” is not a conscious mental exercise, but rather, an extension of everyday thinking. It is also a space where children connect deeply with ideas. Researchers who study creativity in the classroom often refer to the critical role of the teacher in not only fostering a climate conducive to creative experiences, but first, modeling a personal creativity based on experience. Edwards (2010) comments,

The teacher is essential in helping children find venues for creative expression and growth, and once teachers tap into their own creativity, they are better equipped to assist children with creative expression that is appropriate to their own developmental potentials. (pp. iv-v)

In general music classrooms, many teachers use song, poem, or story sources as a beginning point for creative experiences. What Edwards points out is that if teachers interact with young children from a place of personal creativity, the heightened awareness could lead to greater sensitivity to the children’s learning through imaginative thought. Ultimately, the goal would be to be intentional about bringing what Mayesky (2003) calls “creative imagining” into the fabric of the creative experience.

What does it mean to move off the page of the planned activity? We may think of ourselves as flexible, responsive teachers, but in practice realize there is a sliding scale that shifts between more or less directed activities for a variety of reasons. There may be external pressures related to curricular choices and parent or district expectations. There may also be internal levels of discomfort with the unknown outcomes, or we may simply be surprised when the children are suddenly captivated by an idea. Especially when working with young children, many teachers recognize that often the direction we expected the children to take is in fact, something quite different—something we did not anticipate or plan for. I had the opportunity to observe Lisa experience this with one of her kindergarten music classes, and her story illustrates a few ways we can make space for “creative imagining” when working with young children.

Lisa introduced the song, Riding in My Little Blue Truck, to match the kindergarten classroom theme of transportation. After teaching the song, Lisa distributed packets of blue construction paper cut out into geometric shapes. As the children assembled their paper shapes into trucks, some children repeated the song while others sang to themselves:

While this song was not the main focus for that class, Lisa did extend the time a few minutes so the children could repeat their individual songs. In a conversation later that year she commented, “Do you remember the little blue truck? We had the shapes. They loved that one for a long time and wanted to play it.”

This brief example illustrates two key strategies. First, Lisa provided simple manipulatives with the song. If you think of the times you observe young children in pretend play, they frequently use objects to represent familiar items from their surroundings (e.g., a stuffed animal, a hat), or objects that “become” something different (e.g., a ruler becomes the road, a circle becomes a cookie). The object serves as an inspiration, as a visible doorway between the real and imagined places they visit. In this lesson example, the children made up their own songs as they played with the geometric shapes arranged as a truck. They connected with the familiar activity of riding in a vehicle, and took it from there. It is entirely possible that some children would have created their own version of the truck song without the shapes, but the use of the manipulative gave the child a point of visual focus, and appeared to encourage more children to sing to themselves as they described their truck.

Second, Lisa was flexible with the time they spent on the song, and extended the lesson to include their individual songplay. In another class, longer segments of time could be allotted in which the children could play with the shapes and make up their own song about a truck or other object; share their songs with a small group or the class; or have to option to use the shapes on a center choice day in the music classroom. Time is always a challenge in the general music class, but especially with young children. If you only have 25 to 30 minutes, it may feel like there is never enough time to repeat familiar activities and scaffold new ones. In my teaching, I learned to take the “long-range” view on planning, knowing that I would interact with the children over 5 to 6 years. In a single class, time seems scarce, but when placed in the context of several years there is time, and the ability to modify and change plans along the way to match the developmental needs of the child (Horowitz et al., 2005). On the other hand, if you have 45-minute classes, it may feel like there is too much time to keep everyone engaged in a meaningful way. Interestingly, in many grade-level classrooms (PK-2), children are used to having some independent time in smaller work areas (or centers) where they can revisit an activity or explore their own ideas with access to manipulative objects.

In Lisa’s example, “tapping into the imagination” was spontaneous and a part of the large-group instruction. Planning for extended imaginative play experiences in large and small groups is another approach. Mayesky (2003) suggests the use of open-ended prompts beginning with the phrase “just suppose” and then allowing for individual interpretation based on the children’s’ interests. Returning to the Little Blue Truck example, the next class could start with repeating the song and then a suggestion like, “Just suppose you could go anywhere in the blue truck,” or “In our last class we rode the little blue truck around the town. What other machines can take you places?” This prompt could be followed by a time where children are scattered in the room in their own space, making up their own songs.

Creative movement experiences, or instrumental explorations, are often framed with a “let’s pretend” or “just suppose” prompt. These experiences match children’s developmental strengths in play-based learning, and while we may not ask the children to share the stories they are imagining, they are present. For example, if we ask the children to move like “elephants” while listening to that piece from Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals, our objective might be related to tempo, articulation, or timbre. While the children respond through movement to those ideas, it is likely they are also thinking more about the story they are imagining about where the elephants are or what they are doing. If we take a moment to have them share their story with a neighbor, and ask for a few to share with the class, we could facilitate a stronger connection between their “creative imaginings” and the music. For example, they may be responding to the heavy, plodding articulation of the string bass by imagining they are sloshing through thick mud. After sharing that idea, everyone could try it out. In this example, the teacher chooses a topic and prompt as a starting point, but then shifts to the children to share details. We also communicate a message that their ideas are important and make a contribution to everyone’s learning.

When we create a safe and supportive environment, build a creative “vocabulary” through exploration and experience, and choose topics of interest to the children we are encouraging musical participation and development. All of the times we model or lead guided experiences with young children we are co-constructing a foundation for future musical experiences. Do we also consider how to work from a place of our own imagination? Perhaps by connecting with our own imaginative thinking, we could gain insights about our young learners, and find ways to consider thoughtful use of manipulatives and flexibile teaching sequences. Moving off of the page does not need to be a leap into the unknown, rather a brief step away, and into the inspiring world of the child’s imagination.